Gen Z Will Not Let You Bully Them…Or Anyone Else, For That Matter
Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash
After a long and mostly internet free weekend I hopped online to start catching up on the news I’d missed. My Google feed knows me creepily well, and the first story to pop up was about hundreds of high school kids who staged a walked out of their school because of targeted discrimination.
Teachers placed rainbow heart stickers on doors or hung signs in the classroom to alert the LGBTQIA students that they were in a safe and queer friendly environment. That these teachers were open to discussions on LGBTIA topics in a caring and judgment free way.
Not only were the sticker removed, but also the only openly gay teacher had also been escorted off campus as well. And as a result hundreds of students staged the walk out in protest.
I’ll link the video below so you can watch:
I’m a Mom of three, and my daughter is not only LGBTQIA, but she is very active in the community.
She is so active in it the community, that when she was in middle school her and her friends got together and petitioned for their schools first Gay-Straight Alliance club. They made slides to present to the principal with the suicide statistics among teens, and how having safe spaces can greatly lower those risks.
They won! And the school not only allowed them to start the club, but helped them with the resources to do so.
To say that LGBTQIA rights is a big topic in our home would be an understatement.
While I know it’s something my family is passionate about, it can sometimes be saddening when you don’t see it out in the real world. Which made seeing this story lift my heart so high!
With everything going on in our world today, it’s extremely easy to lose faith that there is still more good people than bad in the world. Between the politics and religions of the world thinking they should have more say over the lives and bodies of others, we forget that times are changing faster than we think.
If being home for the last 18 months has shown us anything, it’s that for every dumb TikTok challenge a kid is filming themselves doing, there’s three more kids showing us that they refuse to let anyone- even their own parents- conform them, or marginalize them. The up and coming generation has said they will not follow the rules or hide themselves to make others feel comfortable and safe in their ignorance.
This generation is here, and they will not sit by and be a quiet minority to the majority. They are showing that not only will they fight for their voice and the voice of others like them to be heard, but also for the voice of every marginalized community member. Even if, they aren’t a part of that community themselves.
As a parent of three Gen Z’ers there is immense comfort in knowing that they have not only learned from the mistakes of past generations, but that they are not satisfied in merely sitting by and letting those mistakes go unchallenged. This upcoming generations is a bunch of fighters! They are knowingly and willingly taking a stand against hate, and holding everyone- young and old accountable.
And I am so here for it!
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